(Microsoft Photo)

Microsoft appears to be testing a tool that would allow internet users the manage the data websites and apps collect about them.

A website for the project, codenamed Bali, was first spotted by a Twitter user who described it as a tool “that can delete all your connection and account information.”

Veteran Microsoft reporter Mary Jo Foley did some sleuthing and found a website for Bali calling the project a “new personal data bank which puts users in control of all data collected about them.” The website was no longer publicly accessible by Friday morning.

The project appears to be in early beta testing. It may never become a commercial product but there is a growing appetite among consumers for control over the troves of data being collected on them.

Microsoft’s leaders have been advocating for more user privacy online, a position that throws the controversies of other tech giants into relief. Privacy scandals from Facebook and other industry titans have made headlines over the past year and lawmakers are seriously considering legislation to reign them in.

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